A Blog for Senior Citizens by a senior citizen. Most posts are written by me and others are relevant news items. Emphasis on India. As posts could be made in quick succession, please see the Index (Archive) to see earlier ones. If you comment I won't lament.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Pensioners’ paradise? Bangalore’s a hell hole for senior citizens

Pl come back to this comment after reading the news item.

A six percent annual increase in crimes against elders is a seriouscause for concern. Rules framed in TN under MWPSCA provides forsystematic collection of this specific crime data. In AP our seniorpolice officers are still sleeping over the draft rules sent for theircomments. Is copying from a neighbouring state so difficult.

Pensioners continue to be abused in their paradise. Bangalore, whichwas once known as the Pensioners' Paradise,has turned into a hell ofsorts for senior citizens.

The notoriety of the Pensioners' Paradise first came to light after aHelpage India survey in 2009 showed that crimes against the elderly inBangalore were half as much as in Delhi, which topped the list ofcities most dangerous for the old. The situation has only continued toremain grim since.

There is a dedicated helpline number — 1090 — that attends to callsfrom harassed senior citizens in Bangalore city. What is astounding isthat a large number of callers have complaints against younger membersof the family.

During 2010, 71 calls recorded on the helpline related to abuse ofsenior citizens at the hands of family members. About 64 calls duringthis period pertained to cheating of the old by agencies, whileanother 43 calls spoke of senior citizens being defrauded byindividuals.

According to records of the Union home ministry, crimes against theelderly have been increasing at a rate of 6% each year for the pastfew years.

About 47.3 % of abused elders were ill-treated by people who are oftenconsidered part of the social support mechanism for the aged, found DrIndira Jai Prakash, professor of psychology and consultantgerontologist. Arguing that there is no room for complacency, she sayssince the expectation that Indian families will take care of the oldis often not met, there is need for a more effective helpline, andstronger and more organised groups of the elderly themselves.

There are legal lacunae too that need to be set right, to bettersecure the country's elderly. A seminar held in the city recently bythe Nightingales Medical Trust and National Institute of SocialDefence favoured setting up a public-private partnership that wouldimplement the provisions of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents andSenior Citizens Act.